Isan Language

Title: Phu Thai Data for Subgrouping Southwestern Tai
Keywords: Phu Thai dialects; Language documentation; Southwestern Tai subgrouping
Authors:
Jean Pacquement, jeanpacquement@gmail.com
Agrégé de grammaire, Éducation nationale, France
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Science, Roi-Et Rajabhat University, Thailand
&
Vanh Thongmany, van.thongmany@gmail.com
Language Consultant, Laos
This proposal deals with three dialects of Phu Thai, the Phu Thai varieties related to what has been called the “Phu Thai myth” of Mueang Vang, the Phu Thai Kapong, and the Phu Thai varieties related to the dialect of Phine (Savannakhet, Laos). A first objective is to contribute to the documentation of the Phine dialect. One of its features is a distinctive voice quality feature in the A234 syllables of William J. Gedney’s tone diagram. However, the focus of this presentation will be on the initial consonants in the three dialects.
- In James R. Chamberlain’s classification of Southwestern Tai, which divides Southwestern Tai dialects “into two groups, P and PH” (Chamberlain 1975: 49) according to the reflexes of voiced initial stops reconstructed for Proto-Tai, Phu Thai is a PH dialect.
- Michel Ferlus (2008: 306) relates Phu Thai to Tai Yo and Tai Muong, P dialects of Nghê An (Vietnam), on the basis of the tonal coalescence in the DL column it shares with them. Only Mueang Vang varieties actually have that tonal merger, but Ferlus’ claim is corroborated by the fact that some of those varieties share with Tai Yo and Tai Muong the inital consonant h- in a few words reconstructed by Li Fang-kuei (1977) with an initial *x- ([hɛ:wA1] 'green’, [hawC1] ‘to enter’, etc) or an initial *kh- ([hɛ:nA1] 'arm', etc.).
- The previously mentioned lexical items are actually examples selected by Pittayawat Pittayaporn (2009: 70-75), who deals with their “Kapong forms”. Focusing on Proto-Tai phonology, he notes that “the velar series alone cannot account for the range of correspondences that involve dorsal onsets” and proposes “a distinct series of uvular consonants”. While keeping “PT *x-” for [khe:wA1] 'green’ (the cognate of [hɛ:wA1] in Kapong), he posits “a uvular *χ- for etyma having the correspondence pattern” of [hawC1] ‘to enter’ and “an unaspirated uvular *q-” for the set of etyma represented by [hɛ:nA1] 'arm'.
The analysis in this presentation takes into account data collected for the Phine dialect, in which the examples studied by Pittayawat Pittayaporn have the initial consonant h-, but it will also mention some Mueang Vang varieties, in which such a uniformity cannot be found.
References
Chamberlain, James R. 1975. A new look at the history and classification of the Tai languages. In Jimmy G. Harris and James Chamberlain (Ed.), Studies in Tai Linguistics in Honor of William J. Gedney, 49-66. Bangkok: Central Institute of English Language.
Ferlus, Michel (2008). The Tai Dialects of Nghệ An, Vietnam (Tay Daeng, Tay Yo, Tay Muong). In Anthony V.N. Diller, Jerold A. Edmondson and Yongxian Luo (Ed.), The Tai-Kadai Languages, 298-316. London and New York: Routledge.
Li, Fang-kuei. 1977. Handbook of Comparative Tai. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawai’i Press.
Pittayawat Pittayaporn. 2009. The Phonology of Proto-Tai. Ph.D. dissertation. Department of Linguistics, Cornell University.

This study investigates Northeastern Thai people’s language attitude toward
Northeastern Thai and Standard Thai, and their patterns of language choice by focusing the relationship between the speakers’ age and their language attitude and language choice. A quantitative method is used in this study. Data was collected by using questionnaire from 849 people who born in the Northeastern part of Thailand and perceive themselves as Northeastern Thai people. The target people were classified according to their age into 3 groups: the young (15-30), the middle-age (31-45), and the elder (46-60).
It is found that age related to language attitude and language choice. As for language
attitude, regardless of their age, Northeastern Thai people have positive attitude toward both Northeastern Thai and Standard Thai. However, young people have more positive attitude toward Standard Thai than Northeastern Thai. In contrast, elder people have more positive attitude toward Northeastern Thai than Standard Thai.
With regard to language choice, regardless of their age, Northeastern Thai people
chose Northeastern Thai in informal situations and Standard Thai in formal situations. Yet younger people often use Standard Thai more than the other two groups. Elder people often use Northeastern Thai more than the other two groups.
Therefore, it can be concluded that Northeastern Thai is in the process of shifting to
Standard Thai. This means that the use of Northeastern Thai will be decreasing. However, that does not indicate that Northeastern Thai will extinct in the near future, due to the fact that younger people also have positive attitude toward Northeastern Thai and choose to use it in some communication.

Sociocultural boundaries come in many forms, and crucially, are responsive to power and constantly in flux. This article focuses on the production of space and unmarked sociocultural boundaries linked to spirit mediums in a historically contested area of northeastern Thailand who are possessed by the spirits of Phaya Narin Songkhram — a key ‘Lao’ military leader of Chao Anou’s famous Vientiane revolt against Siam between 1826–28 — and those of his subordinates. Spirit mediums linked to ethnic ‘Thai’ leaders are also found to the south of this area. Through channeling and performing these historical persons, spirit mediums keep alive and reproduce group memories with space-making implications. This article also shows how the mediums’ positioning has shifted over time and varies in relation to contemporary power relations, altering the sociocultural boundaries between ethnic Lao and Thai.

Northeastern Thailand (Isan) is linguistically very diverse with several ethnolinguistic minorities in close proximity. In the Surin province people speak Thai, Kuay, Khmer, and Lao. The relationship between these languages is hierarchical: (Central) Thai is at the top followed by Lao, Khmer, and Kuay. The general attitudes towards these languages are that a language in a higher position is more formal, has more prestige and/or is used more widely. Kuay speakers are traditionally considered as fluent in the other three languages for accommodating speakers of these other languages; while Khmer and Lao speakers do not necessarily speak Kuay.
This study is based on a preliminarily survey conducted at a Kuay community to determine the degree of language shift and ethnolinguistic vitality. Language attitudes and choice were the foci of the study. Data was collected from more than 40 participants by means of a questionnaire and qualitative in-depth interviews.
In this paper, I focus on the transitional status of Lao in this community. If language shift is occurring in this community, speakers of Kuay, as the minority language, will be shifting to the majority languages, Thai and Lao. By contrast, Lao could be both a majority language to which people shift, and the minority language from which people shift to Thai.
The results of the survey seem to show that Kuay is still widely spoken in the community, even by the younger participants. While Lao’s role as a regional Lingua Franca seems to be shrinking and is being replaced by Thai.